Golani Soldiers Known as the Army's Toughest Fighters

ASHKELON, Israel—The Golani Brigade is renowned in Israel for being the army's roughest infantry unit. But on Sunday, fighting in Gaza added a bitter chapter to the Golani lore when 13 of its soldiers were killed battling Hamas militants in Gaza City.

At the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, the second floor surgery ward was brimming with elite Golani soldiers lucky enough to have emerged with minor injuries.